How She Met Her Mothers
by Ariel Hedgehog
Summary: Agent Riley Neal learns about her real family. Small crossover with Intelligence but not mandatory to watch it to understand.
1. Chapter 1

How She Met Her Mothers

Author's Note: Several people on Tumblr have agreed that Meghan Ory was a perfect cast to play Myka and HG's daughter, especially as the character Riley Neal in the new series _Intelligence._ After watching the first episode of _Intelligence,_ this story wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote it down so I did. It's a oneshot split in two and it's fully written. Chapter 2 will be upload soon. A huge thank you to Eridani Moon for the Beta and to Mad Muse Musing for the encouragements. I don't own anything, I just like to play with them.

Riley looked at the piece of paper that Gabriel had given her before she left. He must have made a mistake. She looked again. _Leena's Bed & Breakfast, Univille, South Dakota._ Yep, she was at the right place. She looked at the house, which looked carefully cared for. The grass was neatly cut, the flowers in the flower bed were placed in perfect lines and the windows were shining under the summer sun. Riley took a deep breath before exiting her car. She was ready to do this; she _had_ to do this, she had to know.

Gabriel had refused to come with her. _'It's your story, you should hear it alone. I'll be here if you want to talk when you get back.'_ They hadn't been partnered for long, but she trusted him. She had hesitated before asking his help, but she knew he was the only one who could access the files and tell her the truth. Everyone else who had access had refused to help her.

Riley walked up to the door and knocked. A few seconds later, a woman, who Riley estimated was in her sixties, opened the door with a wary smile.

"Yes?"

Returning the smile, Riley offered, "Excuse-me ma'am, I'm sorry to bother you. I'm looking for Ms. Myka Bering. I was told she lives here?"

The woman looked at her more carefully, detailing her face for a few seconds. Riley could see the emotion building up and the tears forming in the woman's eyes. Holding a hand to her lips, she softly questioned, "Christina?"

Offering a slight negative shake of her head, Riley replied, "No, my name is Riley Neal."

The woman's hand dropped to her chest and she started breathing rapidly.

"Claud... Claudia!" she managed to say, before she collapsed into Riley's arms. Riley quickly eased her to the ground and took her pulse. It was rapid, but steady, indicating that the woman had only passed out.

"HG? HG what's going on? I was in the middle of an experiment and..." Pausing at the sight of the stranger, the other woman demanded, "Who are you and what have you done to her?"

Riley looked at the young woman who had entered the room so suddenly, it was almost she had appeared out of nowhere. She had mid-length red hair and was wearing a plaid shirt, jeans and Converse shoes. She looked about the same age as Riley and was pointing some sort of gun on her. Riley would have pulled her own gun, but she had left it in the car.

"Nothing! She passed out when she saw me, I swear." Indicating the strange gun with a nod of her head, she ordered, "Now put that away before you hurt somebody."

The young woman didn't move. "What artefact did you use on her?"

Riley was puzzled. "What?"

Not buying the innocent act, the red-headed woman growled, "What. Artefact!"

The old woman started to come back to her senses and the redhead approached them, her gun still pointed at Riley. Glancing down at the older woman, the redhead, questioned, "HG? HG are you okay? What happened?"

Shaking her head to clear the fuzziness, the older woman muttered, "Claudia? I... Christina..."

"Christina?" Worry filled the younger woman's face as she inquired, "What are you talking about? Alright let's get you up."

Claudia put her gun away and helped HG to rise, before leading her into the living room where she sat her on the couch. Then she took a small syringe from a pouch on her belt and injected the content into HG's wrist. Within seconds, HG calmed down and focused.

Riley had followed them into the house despite her common sense telling her she should leave. She looked at Claudia who was massaging HG's wrist. Glancing towards the door, she said, "I'm sorry. I should probably leave. This was a mistake."

Panic filled the older woman's face as she reached out to the strange woman. "NO! Please don't leave."

Riley was surprised by HG's cry of despair. In an effort to calm her, she conceded, "Alright, I'll stay. Can you tell me where I can find Ms. Myka Bering?"

This time it was Claudia who was shocked when she heard the name but she quickly recovered. Indicating the wing chair, she suggested, "I think you should sit down, Miss…?"

"Agent." Offering her hand to the red-headed woman, she added, "Agent Riley Neal with the Secret Service. And you are?"

Quickly clasping the proffered hand, the woman replied, "I'm Agent Claudia Donovan with the IRS. This is Helena Wells."

Smiling as she recalled what Claudia had called the other woman, she questioned, "H.G. Wells? Your parents must have quite the sense of humour."

"You don't know the half of it," Claudia muttered. "Agent Neal, do you mind waiting for us here while we discuss a few things in the kitchen? We won't be long."

Riley nodded and the two other women got up and left.

Their conversation lasted a good ten minutes during which Riley did her best not to overhear what was said, but it was hard to ignore when Claudia and Helena were having a shouting match.

"It's impossible!"

"Did you know? Did you know all this time? Why didn't you tell me?"

"HG, are you crazy? Of course I didn't know! I would _never_ have kept something like that from you! I have to call Ms Kensington. She must know what's going on. I have to do some research."

"I want to tell her Claudia. She has to know."

"She can't."

"Then I chose her as my One."

There was a brief silence.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Fine. Go talk to her while I call Kensington… I'll be back shortly to let you know what I find out."

Riley went back to contemplating the ceiling, pretending she hadn't heard everything. Helena came back to the living room and looked at her. "I believe you have lots of questions to ask."

Riley raised an eyebrow at her and tipped her head slightly, in a way that Helena knew too well. She went back to the couch and sat slowly. "I will try to be as honest as possible with you."

"Thank you for that. You can start by telling me who Myka Bering is and where I can find her."

Riley didn't miss the fact that Helena looked terribly sad at the mention of the name. Tears glimmered in the old woman's eyes as she replied, "Myka Bering is... was... my wife. She died thirty years ago, giving birth to you."


	2. Chapter 2

Riley felt like she'd been punched in the stomach. Swallowing past the lump in her throat, she quietly offered, "Oh. I'm sorry for your loss."

Helena's gaze locked with the younger woman's and her tone was almost desperate as she said, "You have to understand something. I didn't know that you survived. None of us did. Otherwise I would have done everything, _everything_ to get you back where you belong. With your family."

Riley nodded in understanding. "Because I'm your step-daughter?"

Helena flashed a sad smile at the young agent. "No Riley, because you're my daughter. Myka gave birth to you, but I was your biological mother."

Riley felt like her head was going to explode. "What?"

Sighing, Helena leaned back against the couch. "I think it would be best if I start from the beginning. It will give Claudia time to find some answers, and you will be able to fully grasp the concept of how you were created."

Riley frowned at the words. "You say that as if I were made in a lab… Like I'm one of Dr. Frankenstein's creations."

Shaking her head vehemently, Helena replied, "No! Nothing like that, I promise."

For the next three hours, Helena told Riley everything there was to know about Warehouse 13, who she was, and where she came from. She told her about Myka; the love of her life, about Pete, Claudia, Steve, Artie and Leena. She told her about the artefacts, what they could do, and how the warehouse agents protected the world from them. Then she told Riley about how she was conceived.

Smiling at the memory, Helena began, "It was an accident really… Myka and I were doing inventory of objects from Warehouse 3 not long after our wedding and we came in contact with a statue of the goddess Inanna the..."

"The Sumerian goddess of fertility."

Helena couldn't help but feel pride at the knowledge that Riley exhibited.

"That is correct. We touched the statue at the same time and we believe that's what made me impregnate Myka with my DNA. We're still unsure of how it works precisely. We were quite a bit shocked when we learned the news, but we were delighted. When Myka was about seven months pregnant, she and I decided to go on vacation in Vancouver. That's where we were kidnapped by a religious cult who believed Myka was carrying the antichrist."

Riley was surprised. "Vancouver? That's where I was adopted!"

Claudia joined then at that moment. She sat next to Helena and held her hand as Riley asked, "Why did my mother give me away? Why didn't you look for me?"

Helena wanted to continue her story, but the resentment she felt from Riley was too much for her. Claudia squeezed her hand and picked up the story where she had left off.

"The cult members decided to separate Helena from Myka and brought her to a little village in Texas where they beat the crap out of her repeatedly. They thought she was responsible for the antichrist and that she was a witch. They were a bunch of nut jobs, I'm telling you that. But they were very well organized nut jobs, and it took me three months to find her. She was barely recognizable and conscious. When our team finally got to her, she said one thing before she passed out. '_The baby._' We almost lost her right there and then, but our doctor managed to bring her back. She stayed in a coma for two weeks. One of your mothers is HG Wells, kid, she would _never_ give you away."

Struggling to process the information, Riley demanded, "What about Myka? You said she died while giving birth to me."

Helena looked at Claudia. She was the one with the missing puzzle pieces.

"The cult kept her hidden in Vancouver, heavily sedated. Too heavily. They gave her too much during the delivery and she… she died." Blinking against the sudden moisture in her eyes, Claudia continued, "They burned the body and were planning on killing you during a ceremonial sacrifice. One of our teams got there, but it was too late."

Helena looked horrified as she turned to confront her old friend. "What? That's not what you told me happened! You told me Myka died while giving birth to our daughter, after she had fought with everything she had to escape! That she was severely injured and bled out! You told me the baby was stillborn because she had been choked by the umbilical cord! You lied to me! All these years you lied to me!"

"I was lied to!" Turning to face Helena, Claudia defended, "I had barely become the new caretaker and my mind was a mess with all the information! Kensington fed me that story and I accepted it because I was devastated by Myka's death and worried sick about finding you! Kensington lied, not me! Come on HG, you know me better than that!"

The two women stared at each other for a while, trying to calm down. Riley's head was spinning with all the new information she had received in the last few hours. Breaking into their silent stand-off, she questioned, "So if it was too late, how come I'm here? And why didn't the sedatives kill me?" she asked.

"Because Ms. Kensington had been told a lie as well. The Regents thought it would be best if you didn't know that your daughter was alive, Helena. They wanted leverage in case you decided to try to blow up the world again. There was a baby who had been sacrificed, but there was not enough DNA for a confirmation. They all just assumed it was your daughter. But they recently apprehended a cult member named Campbell, who told them it was his baby who had been killed and sacrificed. He said that the baby had been protected from the sedative by an artefact which created some kind of protection bubble around the fetus, and that it filtered the sedatives." Turning her gaze to meet Riley's, Claudia added, "He said that he heard a message from God to save you and sacrifice his daughter instead, and that he had taken you outside of the compound just before the raid. He's the one who left you at the orphanage. And that's where you were adopted by your parents. There were no records of your birth, no DNA, nothing that would allow me to find you sooner… Wait a minute, how _did_ you find us? Find out about Myka?"

Riley passed a hand through her hair to shake it. "It would seem like there was a record after all, because my partner found it. It was heavily classified and sealed, but he's the best at what he does. When I asked him to look into it, he found me a name and an address to come look for some answers."

Claudia looked almost ecstatic. "I really have to meet this guy. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a head Regent to go yell at some more, and I'm sure you have plenty of things to talk about. HG, call me if you need anything. It was a pleasure to meet you Riley. We'll talk again. Soon."

Riley looked at Helena for a second and when she turned her head to say goodbye to Claudia, the redhead was already gone. Almost as if she had disappeared into thin air. Frowning, she pondered, "How does she do that?"

"With great pleasure, believe me." Helena massaged her head, trying to calm her migraine. This was too much for her old heart.

Noticing the woman's actions, Riley moved closer, asking, "Are you alright? Should I call a doctor?"

"I'm fine, Darling. Just a headache." Forcing a smile onto her face, Helena offered, "I'm sorry you had to learn all this like that."

Riley offered her own wry smile. "It's quite a story."

"And you don't believe a word of what you've just heard." Sighing, Helena added, "I can assure you that it's true."

Riley thought about it for a moment. "Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth," she said.

Helena looked at her once again with pride. She reminded her very much of Myka. "I see that you are very well educated Ms. Neal. It runs in the family."

Riley smiled at her. "From ten to fifteen, I tried to escape as much as I could through books. I love books. When I was a little girl, my best friend Belle and I could spend hours in the library. My favorite story is Little Red Riding Hood, but I don't know why. And I'm babbling..."

Waving her hand, Helena answered, "No please! Tell me about your life. I want to know everything about you."

Nodding, Riley countered, "Only if you tell me how you can be HG Wells, and about my... Myka."

The two women got comfortable and Helena started her tale.

"The first time I really met your mother, she held me at gunpoint..."


End file.
